Quotessence
Home / Books / The Forbidden Wish

The Forbidden Wish

Book by Jessica Khoury · 29 quotes · Zahra, Aladdin, The Forbidden Wish

Filter quotes by topic

AllZahraAladdinThe Forbidden WishJessica KhouryJinnJinniLovePrincess CaspidaCaspidaIntimateJinn PrinceLampQueen RoshanaRoshanaWishZhainZharaTruthCareDarian

The Forbidden Wish Quotes

“I still can't believe it's really you," he murmurs, running his fingers down my cheek. "This face...it's yours, isn't it?" "The one I was born with," I admit, heat rising under my skin as I feel a surge of shyness. I look down at my hands. "Do you...like it?" "Zahra." I can't help but lift my gaze at the warmth in his tone. His eyes are shining, his lips slanted in a small smile. "You're beautiful," he says. "I mean, you were beautiful before, of course, but knowing that this is the real you...I didn't think I could love you more, but I do.”

ZahraAladdinThe Forbidden Wish
Book:The Forbidden Wish
Create image

“I feel the boy’s gaze on me, and I turn to him. He is still lying on the sand, propped on one arm, staring at me like a fisherman who has unexpectedly caught a shark in his nets. I return his gaze with equal candor, adding him up. His stubbled jaw is strong and just slightly crooked, his copper eyes large and expressive, his lips full. A small, cheap earring hangs from his left earlobe. A handsome boy growing into a man’s body, already powerfully built. Were he a prince or a renowned warrior, he would have entire harems vying for his attention. As it is, his rough beauty is hidden in his poorly cut clothing.”

AppearanceZahraAladdinJinni
Book:The Forbidden Wish
Create image

“I know who you are,” he says. Something about his tone causes my heart of smoke to flicker in response, and I throw my guard up. “Oh? And who, O boy of Parthenia, am I?” He nods to himself, his eyes alight. “You’re her. You’re that jinni. Oh, gods. Oh, great bleeding gods! You’re the one who started the war!” “Excuse me?” “You’re the jinni who betrayed that famous queen—what was her name? Roshana? She was trying to bring peace between the jinn and the humans, but you turned on her and started the Five Hundred Wars.” I turn cold. I want him to stop, but he doesn’t. “I’ve heard the stories,” he says. “I’ve heard the songs. They call you the Fair Betrayer, who enchanted humans with your . . .” He pauses to swallow. “Your beauty. You promised them everything, and then you ruined them.”

WarStoriesBetrayRuinZahraAladdinJinniKnow Who You AreQueen Roshana
Book:The Forbidden Wish
Create image

“Strange,” he murmurs. “What’s strange?” “It’s just . . .” He pushes his hair back. “You’re not like the jinni in the stories and songs. That jinni was a monster. You seem . . . different.” Then he turns and begins trudging up the next dune, wrapping his cloak around him to keep the wind from tearing at it. I stand still a moment longer, watching him. “Zahra.” He pauses and looks over his shoulder. “What?” “My name,” I stammer. “I mean . . . one of them. You can call me Zahra.” He turns around fully, his grin as wide and as bright as the moon. “I’m Aladdin.”

StrangeZahraAladdinJinni
Book:The Forbidden Wish
Create image

“Whore!” he snarls, slamming me into the wall so hard stars burst in my eyes. I hiss at him, the tiger in me threatening to emerge and rip out his throat, but a shout brings me back to myself. “Zahra!” I turn my head and see Aladdin running toward us. When he sees that it’s Darian holding me roughly against the wall, his face twists into such rage that he seems unrecognizable. He crashes into Darian before the prince has a chance to say anything. The two slam into the ground, Aladdin throwing a punch that cracks against Darian’s jaw. “Stop it!” I cry. “Prince Rahzad!” The boys ignore me, rolling and thrashing like dogs. Leave them! Zhian roars. Let me out! “How dare you touch her?” Aladdin spits, grabbing Darian by the hair and pressing the prince’s face into the stone floor. “You bastard!” “I didn’t give her anything she didn’t ask for,” Darian hisses back. “Get off me or I’ll have you executed!”

RageFightFuriousChaseZahraAladdinWhoreDarianPrince Rahzad
Book:The Forbidden Wish
Create image

“What good is it Habiba, to deny the truth? Your friendship woke something in me all those centuries ago, some dormant humanity that had lingered through the years, and after you died, it recoiled and hid again. But Aladdin has woken it once more. With his sun-bright smile and his laughing eyes and his way of asking the hardest kind of questions. After you, I swore to never love again. But I love him. And so I must let him go.”

LoveZahraAladdinThe Forbidden WishJinni
Book:The Forbidden Wish
Create image

“Time has a different meaning for me, and these events that seem so monumental in the moment will one day be nothing more than a line in a scroll. These humans are but letters to be inked into history. A hundred years from now, I will be free. I will have forgotten their names and faces, and the struggles they have will not matter. Time has a way of burying things, shifting like the desert and swallowing entire civilizations, erasing them from map and memory. Always, in the end, everything returns to dust.”

PeopleTimeCivilizationDustDesert
Book:The Forbidden Wish
Create image

“This is Roshana, the last queen of the Amulen Empire, back when my people ruled all the lands from the east to the west. She is something of a legend among us. Every queen aspires to learn from her mistakes.” “Her mistakes? Surely you mean her victories.” “What?” I frown at her. “Roshana was one of the greatest queens in the world. She ended the Mountain Wars, she routed Sanhezriyah the Mad, she—” “For a foreign serving girl, you are strangely well versed in Amulen history.” “I spent a lot of time in libraries as a girl.” “Were you there to dust the scrolls or read them?” “Surely Roshana’s victories outweigh her errors.” “The higher you rise, the farther you fall. For all her wisdom, Roshana was fooled by the jinni, believing it was her friend, and then it destroyed her. Ever since that day, my people have hunted the jinn. There is no creature more vicious and untrustworthy.” “This is not the story I heard,” I say softly. “My people tell it differently. That the jinni truly was a friend to Roshana but was forced to turn against her. That she had no choice.” “Surely I know how my own ancestress died,” returns the princess, a bit hotly. “Anyway, it was a long time ago, but we Amulens do not forget.”

PastHistoryMistakesStoryAncestorBetrayedZahraVictoriesJinniPrincess CaspidaCaspidaQueen RoshanaRoshana
Book:The Forbidden Wish
Create image

“You clumsy wench—Gods above! Are you trying to rob me, girl?” The nobleman seizes my wrist and yanks it from his pocket. My hand comes up with the pipe clenched in it. I stare at him, horrified. “I . . .” “I’ll have your head for this!” the man rages. “I’ll have you whipped!” *** “I got the pipe,” I say, holding it up. He stares for a minute, blinking, and then bursts into laughter. A few curious deer stick their heads through the shrubs to see what the racket is. Aladdin doubles over, laughing loud enough to startle birds from the trees overhead, and after a moment, I start laughing too. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long, long while, and it feels wonderful. We sit on the grass and laugh until our faces are red and we’re out of breath. “You are the worst thief I have ever seen,” declares Aladdin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I got it, didn’t I?” “My grandmother could pick pockets better than that! Though that’s not quite fair; my grandmother was the best pickpocket in Parthenia. She taught me all her tricks. Drove my mother crazy.”

WorstGrandmotherLaughPipeThiefAladdinRobZhara
Book:The Forbidden Wish
Create image